How I Built Up and Sold My Start-Up in 18 months
- Written by Mirjana Backonja
PALIĆ – Like most of the people who live from the internet, I began working quite early, and was a freelancer in secondary school and worked for excellent agencies, says the young Rade Joksimović, who at an early age age decided to do something that was unthinkable to everyone – he quit his job.
“I quit my job!” – in order to, as I like to say, “jump off a cliff” and launch my own independent IT business, Earn Coupon d.o.o, Joksimović told us at the 13th International conference of e-trade in Palić.
Sold his Project for a Six-Figure Amount
“In my view, the outcome cannot be bad, in any case you will acquire new experiences even if you don’t succeed. Below my jump I managed to construct a parachute, and in just 18 months a company offered me a six-figure sum to buy my business”, Joksimović said.
In order to be competitive on the market I realised that I could not work from Serbia, I had no capital, so that I decided to shoot at a niche, by the name of Magento, the world’s most popular e-commerce platform, he told us.
I launched a design shop for Magento, I had four competitors – four companies. However, those companies which had much more funds had more than 40 products on offer, but to achieve their level I would need seven years.
How to Turn a Disadvantage into an Asset
“Then I tried to turn my disadvantage into an advantage. I managed to do so by focusing on exclusiveness. I made generic themes, which anyone could use in their business. I could not charge as much as they could, so I formed a price more than 80 per cent higher than the market price. I did not have much money for marketing, but I had to create growth. At the bottom of each of my products I placed a link leading to my site. This turned out to be a good move”.
After those 18 months of successful and for me inconceivable growth, they contacted me through an agent, and I was placed before a great decision. Whether to sell my business or not. It was a difficult decision. However, a moment came when the growth of the product slowed down, I had to find someone to finance that, or simply to sell the business, so I sold it, Joksimović said.
What I Could Have Done Better – Find a Partner
I should like to mention a couple of things I could have done better. At a moment in time I had about 15 people working for me, but most importantly, I suggest to everyone to find a partner. Like every other job there are moments where income will initially not be great, but major growth can also be made. People are afraid of failure, but sometimes it is better to be afraid of major success, said the young Joksimović, from whom we can certainly expect many more creative project – like the latest named ‘Earn Coupon’.
Source: Home of the Good News